Four St. Thomas students sported argyle socks and matching sweater vests last weekend for the ninth annual Skyway Open, a miniature golf tournament in the Downtown Minneapolis skyway system.

Juniors Sarah Moon, Taylor Ness, Cole Olmschenk and Sam Taufen made up the St. Thomas team. Moon said she discovered the tournament by chance.

“I was just Googling fun things to do in Minneapolis,” Moon said. “We all like to golf, so we decided to try it.”

Unique holes were donated and created by different local companies for the three-day-long tournament. The annual tournament, which drew in about 1,000 participants this year, raises money for the Boys & Girls Club of the Twin Cities.

Each participant in the tournament paid $40 to the charity to play 18 holes and was invited to the “19th Hole After-Party” at the REV UltraLounge Union.

The team’s eccentric uniform did not go unnoticed.

“The party was really fun,” Taufen said. “But the best part was probably taking the Best Dressed award.”

The team celebrated its win by eating cereal out of the trophy the next day.

Since most tournament entrants are adults, the directors were thrilled to see college students participating. They asked the team to come back next year but with a bigger role.

Wynona Jane Schewe, co-chair of the Skyway Open, said getting college students involved could improve the tournament in the future.

“We want more young people involved in the downtown area, especially since the St. Thomas students had so much fun with the tournament,” Schewe said. “The girls said they are former golfers, so they might have access to a crowd of young golf enthusiasts.”

The team thought students at St. Thomas would be interested in designing holes, especially since Taufen and Olmschenk are in the School of Engineering.

“Last year, we had three holes designed by students and an award for best student design. That would be awesome if we could get college students involved with designing holes from a lot of Twin Cities schools,” Schewe said.

Taufen agreed and thinks St. Thomas could benefit from helping out with the tournament.

“We got our school’s name out there by being there,” Taufen said. “I think partnering with the tournament next year would look great for the university.”

The rest of the weekend’s events included face painting, cookie decorating, games for kids, appearances by Miss Minnesota USA and Miss Minnesota Teen USA 2015 and a chance for families to play the course.

“It’s one of those things that once you get involved, it becomes near and dear to your heart,” Schewe said. “I would recommend for everyone to come out and just check it out, golf the course and attend the 19th hole party. I wouldn’t be surprised if after that they wanted to get involved and help with the tournament next year.”

Ness said she wants more St. Thomas students to get involved.

“I hope it gets marketed a lot better next year and that the word gets out to St. Thomas students,” Ness said. “It’s for a great cause, and it was really fun to dress up with friends and just have fun.”

Lauren Andrego can be reached at andr0090@stthomas.edu.